I’ve Got A Car

In what will come as no surprise to anyone who follows my ramblings, I have changed my car. What may surprise some is what I’ve changed it for.
I’ve gone from 3 litres, 6 cylinders and 240bhp to precisely half that - 1.5 litres, 3 cylinders and 120bhp. Still a turbocharged diesel engine though. And I’ve not left the BMW group, but I no longer own a 4 series convertible with all the toys one could want. This is a MINI Cooper 1.5D and is quite a bit smaller than what I had before. I have lost heated seats, a heated steering wheel, the folding roof, sat nav and parking sensors. But I have a Garmin sat nav I can use in it, I can put on gloves and a jumper when it’s cold, the English weather meant the roof was hardly down anyway and I’ll go back to the old fashioned method of parking i.e. looking at where I’m going rather than relying on a series of beeps!
It is a couple of years older than my BMW was but, crucially, it is a 3rd generation MINI. Which means I still have keyless start, auto lights and wipers and auto dimming rear view mirror. And it’s only £20 per year for road tax - that’s a £200 saving straight away.
Major downsides - no CD player. I’ll either have to find something compatible or put over 700 CDs on to my phone. Which could take some time! And the small question of it having covered 127,000 miles. I did gulp at that, but it has been regularly serviced and is in superb condition - wear and tear only commensurate with the year rather the mileage. I do intend to put it through an MOT/inspection before winter in case there is anything that needs urgently fixing.
So, why have I done this? Because the salesman, as well as handing over the keys to this MINI, also put a large amount of money in my bank account. Enough to start funding the classic car project I have in mind. I just need to find the right vehicle now. But at least when I go looking at possible cars, I can do so in reasonable comfort and a lot more cheaply (70mpg!) than would have been the case…